Team's Position
Monsanto has been around for a very long time. They developed the now-infamous Agent Orange (definition) and they currently produce Roundup Weed Killer, among other things. They specialize in chemicals which are harmful to humans and pests. They are now known for engineering Genetically Modified Organism seeds which have been modified to be resistant to pesticides and herbicides. They claim that these GMO Seeds are perfectly safe but the fact is that they have only been using them (legally) for 15 years so nobody can possibly know long-term health effects. Because of Monsanto’s recent growth by buying out its competitors, is imposing a monopoly on the world grain trade. This is the largest agricultural market in the world. The grain trade feeds cows, pigs, chicken, us, everything we eat comes from grain food. Monsanto, by having a monopoly kills smaller businesses, makes us unhealthy, and causes environmental damages) Farmers and Small Businesses : : They use Genetically modified seeds with something called terminator technology. When a harvest happens, the seeds produced by the new crops are rendered useless. This means that farmers have to repeatedly purchase these seeds. There are numerous lawsuits that Monsanto has unethically filed against innocent farmers as well as numerous lawsuits farmers have files against Monsanto including a Kansas farmer who discovered Monsanto GMO wheat in his fields and had the seeds tested to find out that the modified wheat was the same strain as one designed by Monsanto to be herbicide resistant that was tested in Oregon and several other states through 2005 but never approved. Many Asian countries have banned wheat purchases from the USA in order to avoid GMO wheat. They even cancelled existing orders. This is deeply hurting our wheat farmers and they are suing Monsanto, too. : Monsanto, more than any other company, appropriated the concept of intellectual property rights to control farmers. To purchase their genetically modified seeds, a farmer must sign an “end-user agreement” that limits what he can do with them. Agreements are considered necessary to protect intellectual property, justifiably precluding replications that make the seeds unique. However, Monsanto also explicitly forbids the use of the seeds for independent research. Scientists can be sued if they examine whether such genetically modified crops lead to unintended environmental side effects. Thus the only research that ever gets published in peer-reviewed journals is that approved by industrial seed companies. : And then we have the issue of the Monsanto lobbyists who paid off an unnamed US congressman to anonymously insert the “Monsanto Protection Act” into a time-sensitive spending bill which, in effect limits the ability of judges to stop Monsanto or the farmers it sells genetically modified seeds from growing or harvesting those crops even if courts find evidence of potential health risks. Fortunately, there is a movement in congress to overturn this sleazy and grossly irresponsible legislation. Health Risks Most crops Monsanto grows are heavily fertilized. In essence you’re eating pesticides, fertilizer and antibiotics.Most GM crops are engineered to be "herbicide tolerant"―they deadly weed killer. Monsanto, for example, sells Roundup Ready crops, designed to survive applications of their Roundup herbicide. Between 1996 and 2008, US farmers sprayed an extra 383 million pounds of herbicide on GMOs. Overuse of Roundup results in "superweeds," resistant to the herbicide. This is causing farmers to use even more to xic herbicides every year. Not only does this create environmental harm, GM foods contain higher residues of toxic herbicides. Roundup, for example, is linked with sterility, hormone disruption, birth defects, and cancer. Environmental Damages In 1998, the infamous US Patent # 5,723,765 threatened to change farming forever by giving Delta & Pine Land Co. rights to a new technology that sterilizes seeds, as well as any other seeds contaminated by them. Named genetic use restriction technology (GURT) and nicknamed The Terminator, it was frightfully unpopular in countries like India where farmers still primarily grow foods with seeds saved from previous crops. Monsanto pledged a moratorium on commercialization of Terminator technology but then it bought Delta & Pine Co. The Terminator would free Monsanto lawyers from hunting down farmers who save their seeds, so their pledge is viewed cynically by many folks. GURT’s latest form, called reversible transgenic sterility, is nicknamed The Zombie and appears to be Monsanto’s way around its pledge. Whereas Terminator technology produces plants with sterile seeds, Zombie technology requires an annual chemical application to trigger fertility. Technological Dispositive